Sentinels sweeps Wolves to start day two of Masters Toronto

Starting the second day of Masters Toronto, tons of Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #2 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid fans poured into Enercare Centre in Toronto, Canada, and cheered loudly as their team defeated Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #3 SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) Juicy Tyler James Aeria 2-0 in the Swiss stage of VCT Masters Toronto. Wolves put up a fight on map one, but Sentinels took advantage of a strong performance on Lotus to sweep the series.

Split began with Wolves running a Raze-led composition, while Sentinels opted for Yoru instead. Wolves got the first pistol and even converted the bonus round to take an early lead. bang was able to get four kills on A site to earn Sentinels their first round win on defense, but SiuFatBB and Wolves were leading the way.

bang then won a 1v2 clutch to earn Sentinels their second round win, much to the enjoyment of the crowd. That built more steam for Sentinels to reclaim a better score on their defense side, but SiuFatBB hit another crazy clip to get Wolves up 8-4 at the half.

“We just had a difficult start after losing pistol and bonus, and we adapted,” johnqt said. “We knew that if we got some rounds on defense, we could get going, and most of our early mistakes were just first-map jitters.”

Sentinels needed to win the pistol on their attack side, and N4RRATE did just that in a 1v1 against Yuicaw . After converting their bonus, Sentinels were officially back, quickly tying the map 8-8. The momentum N4RRATE and bang built carried Sentinels to their first lead of the series, forcing Wolves to save constantly. On a normal day, Split is very defense-sided, but both teams ran outstanding attack sides.

Wolves finally won their first defense rounds, but Sentinels soon reached map point up 12-10 anyway. SiuFatBB once again clutched a fight to try and force overtime, but Sentinels cleanly won the final round and won Split 13-11.

Lotus had both teams running near mirror compositions, with only the Sentinel choice differing. Wolves opted for the Killjoy while Sentinels stuck to Vyse. Starting on defense, Sentinels won the first pistol, and despite winning their anti-eco against a force buy from Wolves, still couldn't convert the bonus thanks to another clutch from SiuFatBB.

As the first half continued, Sentinels showed their proficiency on retakes, with both bang and zekken providing easy entries for the rest of the team to move up on. Wolves were able to win some post-plant scenarios, but the strength of the utility from Sentinels gave them the edge. Sentinels entered the half up 9-3, with Wolves on the ropes after a close first map.

Just like Split, but now for the other team, Wolves needed to win pistol to make the map winnable, and Juicy led the way. Wolves were unable to convert the bonus round, still needing to make up a five-round deficit. It started to look a bit wary for Sentinels as Wolves fought back to get to eight rounds, but johnqt helped Sentinels win enough rounds to stop Wolves' comeback attempt and end Lotus 13-8, securing the sweep.

“I don't think the pressure affected us; it was just our communication being slow,” SiuFatBB said after the match. “Our rivals used their advantages well, but we need to adjust better. Props to Sentinels, they gave me so much energy on stage.”

With this win, Sentinels are 1-0 and will face one of the other teams that won their first match in the Swiss stage, only one win away from the playoff stage. Wolves are now on their final chance, needing to win their next two games to make it to the playoff stage of Masters Toronto.